


Zombie

by Sugarino



Series: Expanded Universe [23]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: New Jedi Order Series - Various Authors, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, New Republic era, Omorashi, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Pro-Empire (Star Wars), Shower Sex, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Trans Girl, What Measure is Human, are the two things if you are curious though, its mostly plot, its very brief, no Jedi or Sith, very little porn this time around
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 09:44:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20289415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sugarino/pseuds/Sugarino





	Zombie

Water, darkness, and pain; a pitiful being, obscured in the water, reaches out to the bright, sunlight surface above. Darkness fades into more darkness, as the muffled heartbeat begins to slow…

3 Days Prior…

A digital bell rang, four clinging chimes, followed by the sound of duralocks unlatching and mechanical doors sliding open in unison created a slight moment of loudness, in an otherwise silent hall. In no particular order, groups of youth, of a plethora of species, began walking out of their respective classrooms. This was VOSECO Secondary School #104, a more exclusive, corporate-administered school on Republic-controlled Coruscant. Being exclusive, it afforded students many more amenities. Most students were heading to the very well-stocked concessions room, others, to the break dome outside, one in particular, was heading towards something much more utilitarian, a locker.

Wearing the standard uniform for VOSECO students, brown shoes, long grey pants, and a grey shirt with a holotag, reading “Eri”. The soft-eyed youngling trudged along with the gait of a teenager that could only be described as, “lonely”. It seemed to show, as occasionally, a pair of students, often female, would begin chattering among themselves in hushed giggles as Eri walked past. This was normal, and it only made Eri look down at the ground more. Making it to the locker, a sigh was let out before one satchel of textblocks were placed inside the open locker, before another satchel was pulled out. The locker bore no decorations, nor any personal effects. Closing the locker, Eri came face to face with someone very familiar.

Letting out a distinctive high-pitched chuckle, a girl, “Dolly” began to point at Eri and back away. “Whoaaaa!” She exaggerated, “Don’t eat me!” She exclaims while running down the hall partially, garnering laughs from a few more students, whose attention now turned fully to Eri. “What’s the matter, don’t wanna be ‘eerie’ at us today? I thought you liked Zombies!” The nickname came from, of course, Eri’s own name, and from how much Eri enjoyed monster cinema and mentioned as such at the introduction in class when transferring to this school, Dolly, of course, being a judgmental loudmouth, made Eri out to be a big joke for this, something Eri hoped to escape when moving schools in the first place.

The students began laughing harder, and for the briefest of moments an angry look came over Eri’s face, but it faded, as resignation set in, Dolly, and the others continued laughing and exchanging remarks at Eri’s expense until at least the mocked student was out of earshot. The rest of the day went by pretty standard, boring lectures by washed up professors turned into corporate high school teachers, a first-class lunch punctuated by hormonal-imbalanced teens flinging 400 credit exotic cuisine at one another on silver trays, and finally, the sound of a bell ringing ending Dolly’s mocking of Eri in the middle of one of the mostly-deaf science teacher’s eraser board equations.

But, as was common, it seemed Eri’s current biggest tormentor was hot on the trail, mocking the way the silent teen walked, all the way outside, before running off to, apparently, her own airspeeder and flying off. Being as Eri couldn’t pass a class-D piloting test, and both parents were off-world 80% of the week, Eri once again took the bright-green school skybus home. A lonesome ride, but at least it was quiet. One would scarcely think any resident of the Ackbar Towers block could be sullen, or depressed, but Eri proved such a thought otherwise, shambling up to residence B-3249. A greeting bell met the youth at the door, and pair of droids greeted Eri. This is what finally brought a smile. C3-L3, a feminine C3 protocol droid, nicknamed “Kelly” seemingly had already made a sandwich for her owner. As well, CyD-K9 aka Sid, the doglike droid, greeted Eri with an electric bark and nuzzle.

Eri’s smile was easily brought out by the two beings that could be construed as friends, in comparison to all others, save the, mostly absent parents. “Good evening...” Kelly looked out the front viewcam to ensure nobody was listening in from outside. “Madam Eri!” Eri smiled deeper and gave a warm hug to the cold metallic body of her most close friend. Throwing off her grey shirt, tag and all still attached, and grabbing the sandwich, she ran to her room while saying, “Be right back Kelly!” Her loyal droid dog followed, only to back out of the room with a simulated blush across his digitized face as what was clearly Eri’s pants flew out the doorway into the hall before him.

“Honestly...” Kelly said in a hushed voice while picking up the young madam’s tossed clothes. Soon after, the young woman emerged from her room and threw herself upon the couch, she was now wearing a very goth-looking skirt and white shirt getup, complete with stockings. She lamented how she had to keep her hair cut, but otherwise relaxed. Kelly stood beside her. “What movie shall it be tonight, Madam?” For a moment the young woman thought, before looking at Kelly. “Zombieland!” She exclaims, which is met with nodding from the droid, “Excellent choice young miss.” In a moment, the large holoscreen appeared before them both, as Sid joined her at the couch. She took a bite of her sandwich as the movie began to play. “I do like Zombies” she said quietly, mouth half-full.

Several more movies were watched, but by nearly the middle of night, it was apparent that her scheduled lifestyle was getting to her even as she’d vowed to stay up later since the next day would be a half-day. Kelly had specifically prepared for this by breaking out the soft silk throw blanket, and a pillow befitting a girl with soft hair. After powering down everything else, and double-checking the duralatches on the door, Kelly retreated to the corner to charge, and instructed Sid to assume the standby-guard position by the door, as normal.

The morning sun came, and with it, the promise of only a little bit of torment before a full day of what she loved, gaming and movies, and Kelly’s snacks, of course. Waking up just short of being late, she quickly showered, and threw her clothes from the night previous onto her bed, shabbily putting on her uniform, pre-folded on the other side of the bed, and running out the door after half-yelling at Kelly that she’d be back early. A quick bus ride, and a quarter-kilometer of walking later, and she’s stepping into the front doors of her torture chamber.

She stopped by her locker, and prepared herself to see Dolly’s face inches away. Strangely, that didn’t occur today, as was normal. Instead she shrugged and took in the joy of not having to deal with a morning embarrassment before class. But halfway to class, she felt the need to urinate hit her all at once, and it wasn’t something she could avoid. She ran to the restrooms and knew she’d be late, but she couldn’t hold it long. She stopped just prior to entering the girl’s bathroom and sighed, fidgeting as she ran into the boy’s bathroom and made for one of the many empty stalls. With that, and a quick soaping of her hands out of the way, she made her way outside and headed for class, only to be bewildered by the sight of a security droid just sitting in the middle of the hall, seemingly powered off. Security droid patrols were normal during the time classes were in, or just about to be fully in, but being powered off was not normal.

Thinking little of it after initial confusion she again shrugged it off as another weird half-day occurrence and made her way to class, but stopped yet again before seeing the unmistakable form of a girl open the door to the school server room and run out. She saw it was Dolly, and for the slightest moment their eyes met. Dolly composed herself for a moment and then shut her eyes. “It’s not what it looks like, don’t be a creep Eri, keep quiet about this, okay?” She half-demanded. Eri, surely not wanting to cause trouble let out a quiet. “Y-yeah, I won’t tell.” Dolly opened her eyes and smiled, a semi-devious grin. “Good! Now...let’s get to class, but I’m going in first, I’ll tell the teacher you had to go to the bathroom before coming in, and that I saw you while coming here. I got my story straight, get yours straight too.”

She then walked off, leaving Eri concerned, confused, but mostly, curious. One thing made clear to all students was that faculty-only rooms were never to be entered, under any circumstance that wasn’t life or death in nature. And even then, the number of rooms that a student ID could even open at that were very limited. It seemed very unlikely that the pretty bully would have clearance. Things started to add up in a very strange, and unclear way. But Eri couldn’t plausibly think of anything as she walked to class. After getting in class, and getting slightly ribbed by a comment from Dolly, “Hope you washed after handling that lizard!” The uncaring teacher just called for the class to be quiet, Eri just barely made it before the duralocks were set to latch.

The day seemed to fly by, and Dolly made no other comments towards Eri. In fact, after that initial, half-hearted ribbing, she heard nothing else from the girl, looking over once to see Dolly looking out the window, something atypical of the girl. With another ring of the bell, the students began to stand and head home. Eri once again trudged to her locker, and got her things. With little to hold her here save a voluntary presentation on VOSECO school products, something she was already familiar with, she made for the buses as usual.

She forgot how, once again Dolly hadn’t shown up at her locker, until the girl popped around the corner to greet her at the door. “Hey! C’mere kiddo!” She put her arm around the girl she often made fun of, and yet, it garnered a blush from Eri. “Listen, I know what you saw earlier was weird, but let me tell you all about it...let me carry you home today!” Eri was even more confused than before, her bubbly bully was now offering to give her a ride home. On one hand, she felt her gut telling her this was going to end badly, and on the other, she couldn’t bring herself to say no to her, like anyone else. “I..I...” Eri responded, granting a smile from Dolly. “Aye aye? Well come aboard me ship matey!” Dolly dragged the nervous girl to an airspeeder.

“Buckle up now, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride!” Dolly started the engine, after securing her own belt. Eri quickly did the same, just in time for Dolly to yell, “Weeee!” while peeling out of that parking pad at close to 70 kmh. Fear filled the young woman, as her captor-apparent sped through the skylanes of Coruscant like a grizzled professional. “Hey! I got some music for ya! Makes me think of you anyway!” Dolly turned on the radio and a distinctly Earthen guitar riff started. “You’ll know when it gets to the good parts!” She slowed down as the traffic backed up a bit and looked at Eri and began to sing. “In your heaaad in your heaa-ed, zombie zombie!” Eri blushed, partially feeling bad about being made fun of, partially endeared by how innocent it seemed.

“Hey! I thought you’d like it!” Dolly exclaims noticing the look on Eri’s face. “I mean… why are you always so mean to me?” Eri said, with slightly watery eyes while looking at Dolly. For her part, the bubbly girl started to look shocked, she turned the music down, though not off, and stayed quiet for a bit, mulling over something, seemingly. “Hey, you live on the Acky block right?” She asked, not turning to face Eri, who looked over and responded, “Yeah, how did you know?” Dolly looked over at Eri for a moment. “Just a rumor, lots of students seem to think you’re like, some kind of heir to a fortune or something.” Eri let out a fake chuckle, a cynical one Dolly didn’t expect. Eri looked ready to say something, but didn’t, and instead looked out, quietly, away from Dolly. Who quietly looked at Eri a moment before looking back along the lanes.

A short flight later, and they arrived at the Ackbar landing pads. “Hey, look, this is gonna sound really weird...but can I come up with you? I wanted to talk to you about some stuff and, honestly, I’d rather do it without the roar of speeders all over the place.” Eri was taken aback, but as with before, she couldn’t turn down Dolly’s pushing her to the speeder, and now, given the choice of saying no, it was still hard, she still couldn’t bring herself to even lightly stand up to something Dolly wanted. “I guess… that’s okay.” Dolly turned from quiet, and serious, back to bubbly. “Then hop on out zombie!” That time definitely felt more endearing, somehow, and the blush returned. “O-okay!” Eri got out fast, to try and hide that blush. Before long the two were walking towards the elevator banks, and the distinct chime of a speeder locking mechanism went off behind them. Dolly placed the keyfob in her pocket and continued on. “I always forget to lock it, probably don’t have to around this place!” She was right, not a single apartment, nor vehicle truly had to be locked to be secure here, but Coruscanti logic on thieves behind every corner dictated that, indeed, everyone locked everything anyway.

They made their way to the doorway and Eri once again sighed, before opening the door. “Young miss I...” Kelly said, before stopping herself. “Hey, how’d you know zombie here would be bringing home a girl?!” The bouncy bully hadn’t figured out Eri’s secret after all. “Young...master, I do wish you had called ahead so I could better prepare the abode for company...” Eri looked apologetically, then leaned down to pet Sid, who was eyeing Dolly without barking, as was protocol for visitors. “Oh you got a K9?!” Dolly asked, and leaned down to start petting the mechanical dog, which began the affection procedures as Kelly and Eri talked. “Yeah, I do, listen, Kelly, can you make us something to eat, personally?” Kelly nodded her head, “Right away mi- sir!”

Eri cringed a bit inside, but decided to let it go. “Well...where’s your bedroom?” Dolly asks, catching her classmate off guard. “Uh-umm d-down the hallway on the left?” Eri seemed confused, almost quesitoning where it was herself at this nerve-tingling question. Dolly, for her part, could tell that Eri thought of some implications. “Heh, keep your face pale, zombie! I’m not gonna get naked in there or anything, just want some privacy to talk!” This made Eri blush a deep crimson. “I-i-it’s fine! I just have t-to get something to drink, do you want something?” She was able to compose herself before the end of the sentence, Dolly thought a moment, before saying, “Nope! Thanks though E!” Dolly then set off for the room as Eri got a bottle of juice from the refrigerator. “Miss Eri? Is this the girl you mentioned before?” Kelly asks, in a hushed, concerned tone.

“Yeah… But she’s being different, I don’t know why, I just know that I’m glad she isn’t being mean anymore...even if it’s just today.” Kelly places a hand on Eri’s shoulder. “I have watched you grow, young miss, organics can change, in time, remember that.” Kelly reassured her young ward. Eri went to her room only to find Dolly in front of the bed, looking back at her with a grin. “What are y-” Eri was cut off while looking down at her bed, noticing the girl’s clothes strewn across it. “I-I-” Cut off again, Dolly pulled her into the room and shut the door. “Wiiiiild guess here E, you’ve never been naked in front of another person?” Dolly asks, and nervously, Eri looks away. “So these are yours, right?” She said, making the point to pick up one of the stockings. Eri could only nod, she didn’t feel shame, but fear, this was something that was illegal, even if many practiced it in more free areas.

“Hey! Don’t shake like that, I’m not some kinda tattle-tale, I might be a tease, but I’m not a total bitch!” She pushes the girl’s shirt up against her own body. “Wow, we’re the same size!” Dolly got distracted herself from original matters in being insistent that Eri try on clothes for her. Dolly opened her bag, pulling out a pair of horned hairclips that Eri remembers her wearing a few weeks back. “Put these on your head too!” Her insistence was strangely comforting to Eri, so she went into a corner of her room and made Dolly cover her eyes while changing, though she was sure the girl peeked during. “Well...this is me.” Eri says as Dolly gasps. “Wow! You look, so, so much like, like me, actually!” Eri looked in the mirror then looked back at Dolly. There were some differences, but the body size, the hair color, the skin.

“Now, c’mere, I am gonna put something else on you!” Eri reluctantly walked over to Dolly, who giggled watching Eri move shyly in girl’s clothes. Dolly patted on the bed while sitting on it. Eri sat, and Dolly moved back on the bed slightly and pulled out something from her bag. Eri felt her place something on either side of her head. An electric hiss could be heard as the objects locked in place. Dolly then revealed it to be hair extensions by covering Eri’s face with the synth-silk hair. “Now you really do look just like me!” Eri stood and walked ot the mirror, and couldn’t tell the difference, at first glance, between herself, and Dolly. “Whoa! H-how? Why do you have hair extensions?” Eri thought of asking. And Dolly, for her part, sighed. “Well you see, me and you are more alike in a couple of ways, and very different in another few. I’m sure you can guess why in the first part. Dolly wrapped an arm around Eri’s waist and pointed down.

Eri became very flustered and fidgeted to get free, but Dolly turned it into a from-behind hug. “Hugs for the lady!” That statement made Eri nearly cry, she had never felt the warmth of a hug from non-family, and been affirmed by anyone with skin instead of metal plating on them. She let out a few tears, which made Dolly hug tighter. “I’m really sorry I was so mean to you, I know it must have hurt more than I thought it would, I just...I needed a way to set myself apart. I needed to draw attention away from other things.” This snapped Eri back to reality, and she felt a chill run down her spine at this. “W-what do you mean?” She asks, as Dolly steps back. Dolly nervously looked around, seemingly unsure if she should even say anything.

“I could have gone the next few days without ever having this moment, but you saw me, you saw me leave the server room, and I know that you said you’d be quiet, but I couldn’t be sure of that...” Dolly sits on the bed. “I’m not what I seem, I’m not some random teenager at that school. I’ve got very specific orders, and that is to breach VOSECO corporate databanks, and extract their plans for a bioweapon they are making for the Republic.” Eri wasn’t sure she was ready to hear this revelation, as none of it made sense, until it all did. Dolly constantly creating scenes around her, crafting a persona of a teenage bully, a C+ student, someone who wouldn’t stand out as the most likely to be guilty of tampering with anything at the school. “But, how could this all be true?” Eri asks, in a last moment of disbelief. To which Dolly pulls out a holocron, tapping the top of it, the device opened and a hologram of blueprints showed up, swiping her hand right quickly, more blueprints sped across the projection.

“I was partially successful, I got interrupted when I noticed the time, otherwise I’d have finished. I admit...I was relieved when you were out there, because, honestly, if I just up and disappeared and you were the last student to be known that was out of class, if someone found out, it wouldn’t all be on me, you’d be looked at for it too...I’m sorry.” Dolly looked apologetically, as though her own line of thought was wrong. “But I can’t disappear until it’s finished. From what partial information I do have, they seem close to going to field tests with their bio-agent. I’ve got to get the rest of that data. If we know what it’s made from, we can inoculate our people from it.” Eri couldn’t help but feel this all seemed like the start of a horror movie involving zombies, but rather than say that she just sat beside the girl. “So...you’re an Imperial agent, and I was at the wrong place at the wrong time?” Eri asks, getting a nod from the other girl.

“Pretty much, and there’s nothing I can do about it, I have to get the rest of that data and get off-world before I’m detained.” Eri looks around a few moments. “My parents, they are pretty influential types, if I were to help you...they could probably avoid problems over it, aside from some prestige loss.” Eri says, nervously moving around while speaking. Dolly looks at her, “I was actually going to ask, if you would help me, I thought the answer would be no.” Eri looks back, “It would have been, if you’d asked me this morning. But...how could I let billions of people get hurt so I can keep my head low while this war is raging out there?” Dolly smiles, ‘You’re a good...girl, Eri, I wish I could have got to be your friend from the beginning, I’m truly sorry for being so mean.” Eri looks down, “It’s okay, I’m used to it, you’re not as bad as the last people to bully me, you never beat me up.” Dolly looks sadly at the girl to her side and leans over. Eri looks back and is surprised, unsure of what to do, she leans forward just a bit. Dolly closes the distance and delivers a kiss, a soft lip peck at first, Dolly then slips Eri some tongue. Eri gives in to the kiss, unsure how to kiss, and Dolly, for her part, is slow with it, unsure seeming, until both get more passionate. For a blissful few moments, the world slips away and Eri feels good. Dolly pulls back though, slowly, ending the kiss. “W-wow...” Eri says, wiping her face of the saliva at her lips.

“Yeah...you just looked so kissable right then! I had to do it!” Dolly returns to her bouncy self, and stands up. “Eri, I know how we can do this, and you not even get in trouble!” Dolly then dragged Eri up and to the mirror. “I have something that can mess with your voice, just let me get my extra set of clothes!” Dolly ran over to her bag and pulled them out of a side compartment, the clothes were inside a kind of plastic covering. “I always keep an extra set in case the ones I’m wearing get like, covered in oil or something.” Once again beckoning Eri to strip, this time she also returned to her bag during, and picked up a bra that had some weight to it, and threw it to Eri. “Like I said...we’re similar.” Eri put it on and instantly thought of the implication again, Eri was now no longer “flat” like Dolly wasn’t.

Buttoning up the uniform, she looked at herself in the mirror, Dolly came over and placed a collar around her own neck, but sounded the same. “I left mine off, but here, yours won’t be.” She placed the collar around Eri’s neck, then spoke into it. “Authorization D0113, run, replication program 2” The collar let out a little chirp and Eri felt it tighten a bit. “Okay, so it’s weird, you’re actually just not going to be able to be heard normally, it layers your voice, it sounds odd, but what it does is, it reads your vocal chords, and produces sound that will match my voice, and ‘throws’ the sounds slightly. Say something.” Eri thought a moment, “Hey zombie!” she says while making the pointing motion and trying to replicate the way Dolly looks while saying that. Dolly cringed a bit, not knowing what that looked like. “Perfect! But, man I look so mean doing that...” Dolly says.

Eri feels pure excitement inside, “Heh, don’t worry about ‘Eerie’! She knows people can change.” Doing the motions while saying ‘Eerie’ like Dolly, the two of them laugh a moment. Dolly feels better about herself now, with Eri accepting apologies. For the next little while, Dolly explained her plan to Eri, involving replicating her personality, and going about classwork normally, while Eri would call in sick in the morning. Dolly would drop Eri off earlier, and then come later during break period to finish her job while there’s a lot of distractions for security, then, Eri and Dolly would fly off, with Dolly then catching a ship off world, and Eri showing up to school the next day. The plan seemed to be great, but Eri thought for a moment. “So, tomorrow, it’s the last time we’ll see each other...right?”

Dolly seemed to deflate at this, before answering, “Yeah, I guess so, unless you’re planning on defecting anytime soon.” Eri looked down at her feet. “I don’t know, I haven’t even graduated yet, and, my family? I don’t know what would happen.” Dolly put her hand on Eri’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay, I understand, you certainly don’t have to leave home because of me. Maybe I’ll be assigned around these parts again.” Eri smiled, but inside, she knew this may legitimately be the last time she got to see her new friend. “Would you like to watch some movies with me?” This caught Dolly off guard. “Huh? Well, I’ve never really seen too many, I’ve been so caught up in work, I guess that would be fun!” Dolly seemed excited, and the two left the room, coming into the living room, they could smell Kelly’s cooking, and Kelly, for her part, seemed to be coming to tell them that it was done.

“I was just-” Kelly stated, before looking between the two of them, confusedly, something that Sid was also doing. Both of the girls went to speak at once, which made it even worse. “Kelly, it’s me, Eri, look, Dolly knows about me and wearing this kinda stuff and, I know it seems weird, but it’s fun.” Kelly simulates scratching her head for a moment, then shrugs. “That’s alright, I just didn’t know which was which, anyway, I made burgers!” Eri made a familiar look and motion, while Dolly said, “Yum!” Letting Kelly truly know who was which with more comfort. “Dinner, and a movie it is then, young miss?” Kelly asks, to which she receives a single word from Eri. “Zombieland”.

Over the next few hours, the two talk like a pair of average teenage girls would, Dolly, seemingly very much enjoying the selection of movies Eri had. Godzilla movies, Zombieland got a lot of laughs, and a few frightened gasps from the girl, a few others. It turned from early evening to late evening, to night. “Wow, this is so fun! I can’t believe how many people will make fun of you for this...how I did.” Eri waves her hand. “I guess it’s just the sheer volume you know, people aren’t used to someone liking a lot of anything that isn’t something they like?” She pauses, “Like what about people who like to spend all day watching reality shows? To me, that’s laughable, but I hear students all the time talking about it in the halls.” Dolly seemed to understand. “I guess that’s just how beings are, isn’t it?” She asks, getting an affirmative nod from Eri. “You know D, maybe I will leave home as soon as I can. I don’t really have any ambitions to go to some stuffy academy, and I certainly won’t join the NRDF. My parents haven’t lined anything out for me, they aren’t like that.” Dolly smiles at this, and puts an arm around Eri. “You’re just saying that because you’re afraid you won’t see me again, right?”

Eri looks away, “I never thought I’d actually have a friend like me, I love Kelly and Sid, but they can’t really leave home with me when I do. They’re the only friends I have, now that you are being so nice to me, day after tomorrow, I’m going to have to walk into school, and get made fun of by the rest of them, and even with you gone, I will just have to deal with it till I graduate.” Dolly could feel pressure behind her eyes, emotions were building, but she suppressed it to give Eri a hug. “I’m sorry, I wish I didn’t have to go, me and you could make a great team, even if it’s just living out some teenage high school experience together. I wish I could stay.” Eri, and now Dolly cried for a bit, as the muted credits of Day of the Dead scroll by. Kelly, and Sid had been sent away to Eri’s parents room to avoid hearing something that could get them in trouble.

After it ended, Dolly laid behind Eri on the couch, and put an arm around her. “I know we’ll see each other again, I just know it E.” The two laid there a little while, finally getting happier feeling as they watched some funny romantic comedy movie. After it got near midnight, Dolly, and Eri decided they needed to get ready to sleep, to prepare for the morning. The two of them couldn’t decide who would shower first. Dolly made the decision herself. “Then we shower together!” Eri once again became nervous and stuttered out a response that Dolly ignored. The visiting girl was impressed by the main restroom. “If we had more time, I’d have said we should bathe together instead… but hey, who knows what the future will hold?” Dolly says, making Eri blush yet again. Eri begins to undress, and Dolly helps her, removing the clips and extensions, until Eri is down to underwear, the one thing that hand’t been changed on her.  
  
“Don’t worry, I have extra panties too!” Dolly says, as she begins to undress, taking off her own extensions, the two of them look at each other, almost fully disrobed in the mirror. “You and me could be seen almost as twins like this too.” Dolly was the slightest bit taller than Eri, but it didn’t show by much, and surely wouldn’t when the latter was in heels. The final items of clothing were the underwear worn. Eri kept her legs closed, but ultimately finally gave in to Dolly’s tugging pulling them down. “Ohh, don’t worry Eri, you don’t have to be embarrassed, we’re both ladies here!” Dolly exclaimed, pulling her panties down. Eri, was, indeed, slightly embarrassed, her height wasn’t the only thing different about her and Dolly.

Dolly couldn’t hide her excitement at this moment, she immediately pulled Eri into the shower, but resolved herself to not take advantage of the shy girl. “Hey! We shampoo last, but first~” She takes a bar of, what was very likely expensive, soap and lathered her hands, before putting her hands on Eri as the hot water runs down their bodies. “So soft already… lemme clean you!” Eri looked away and spread her arms and allowed the girl to scrub her, it was embarassing, but she couldn’t even hide that it felt nice. Dolly slowly, and gently moved the soap in a lather against her trembling host’s body. “You’re shaking even with the water on warm...” She then pulled Eri close, pressing herself against the shy girl.

“It’s okay if I scrub everywhere, right?” She asked, softly while embracing Eri, and running a hand up and down her back. “Y-yeah, it’s okay...” Eri responded, in response, Dolly soaped her hands for a moment behind Eri, and Eri could definitely feel their privates touch slightly, garnering light gasps each time. Dolly laid the soap aside, and put one hand down Eri’s front, using her lathered right hand to scrub at Eri’s privates. “Ah, ahh-” Eri had never had anyone so much as see, let alone touch her like this, she felt her guest feel her up a few times down there more directly, the water was kept off by Dolly being so close. “Shhh, it’s okay, I won’t do too much like this to you, I just wanna get you clean~” She says, and Eri relaxes a bit, until her bath partner’s other hand works down her back to her rear, and starts running along, then down the middle of it.

Eri once again gasped, having never felt someone touch her this way, but just as with the front, Dolly only lightly pressed at the one place that would be considered sexual. Dolly then began rubbing her body up and down against Eri’s. “Hehe, this way I can get soaped up too easily!” Dolly grabbed the soap and had eri lather her hands with it. Immediately after, she took the soap back in her own hands, and began scrubbing the other girl’s back while still in an embrace. “Scrub me, down there like I did you, please?” Eri nervously complied, sliding one hand up and down Dolly’s privates, and between the legs. “Ahhh, yeah, that feels good, you’re a good cleaner~” Eri also slide her hand around Dolly’s rear, and began scrubbing as she’d been. “Mmm~ Really good!”

The two continued touching one another occasionally, garnering a moan out of each other, until they moved on to legitimately scrubbing each other’s backs, and applying and rinsing shampoo from one another, moving from sensual touches, to light-hearted conversation, and back once more, before finally cutting off the water to talk, and dry off. “I get the plan, but what happens if we fail?” Eri asks, while drying her hair. Dolly, already dry at the waist and below, wraps her large towel around the mid-section. “Well, frankly, if we are caught, I think you know what will happen. But if you mean, we are found out but make it away?” Dolly asks, and Eri, putting the thoughts of what would happen in a prison aside, answers. “Yeah, what if we actually manage to get what you need, but still we’re discovered?”

Dolly thinks for a moment, before looking at Eri. “Well, if it all fell apart, I have a way off this shiny rock. There’s a ship, a little freighter, that I have waiting for just this reason in the Barrows within sight distance of the school.” Eri looks away a moment then looks back at her. “If it goes bad, take me with you.” Eri says, solemnly. “But… but what about your life here?” Dolly asks, putting her hair up with a towel as well now. “I like my after-school life here, but the heat will be coming down on everyone who doesn’t have a solid alibi, it always does. My parents have enough influence that a run-away, possibly delinquent teenager won’t really draw too much pressure on them from above. And, I could always find a way to communicate with them somehow. I just know that I don’t want to end up in one of the penal wards here, or even off-world.” Eri explained her case carefully, and Dolly understood.

“I feel bad for even involving you, and, if you say so, you can just stay out of this, I don’t really want to jeopardize anything for you. I’ve already been a horrible force in your life for months now.” Dolly felt guilt, and was visibly concerned for Eri. Unexpectedly, the normally nervous girl put a hand on Dolly’s shoulder. “I forgive that, you needed to make an appearance that could make you look less like the type to do this. But let me help, I’ve spent my whole life watching all these adventures flicks, zombies fought off by some hero, vampires vanquished by some martyr for mankind. I don’t know if I could sleep knowing that I could’ve helped save billions, or even more, from what might be genocidal warfare.” Dolly leaned forward, granting yet another kiss for the young heroine before her. “Sometimes, ladies can be knights too, like you, so brave!” Eri blushed hard at this and gave a big, goofy grin.

“I’d give you a heroic last night but...it’s like way past time to get good sleep as it stands, so lets hit the hay, but, let’s sleep next to each other. If this goes well, it could be a long time before we can again.” Dolly says, and Eri is the one to initiate the hand holding this time, walking out of the bathroom with the other girl in tow. As the two moved into the living room, Kelly once again looks between them, stumped. Two flat chests, two similar faces, two sets of towels in skirts and head wraps. She turned around, and walked back to the living room to pretend to clean again. Sid panted repeatedly at the sight, until a light kick from Kelly made him get back to guard duty. The girls both giggled at this display, and could imagine Kelly trying to figure out just what was going on. “Make sure to wash our clothes, Kelly!” Eri said before closing the door behind her. Kelly said something unclear in the affirmative as the door shut.

“I don’t normally sleep naked...” Eri says, making Dolly laugh a bit, before patting Eri’s shoulder. “I don’t either! I like something between me and the sheets, but since we’re gonna be spoonin’ I’d say that I will stick with some of your sleep clothes!” Eri grinned shyly and went to her drawer to retrieve the clothes. A few minutes later, Eri felt a warmth slide into position behind her. “C’mere girl, time for some cuddlin’!” Bringing Eri close, Dolly played the part of the big spoon, laying behind her new friend and wrapping an arm around her. “Mmm, be my teddy bear, E!” Dolly asks with excitement, dulled only by her tired monotone. “Wouldn’t I be your teddy zombie?” Eri joked, it was endearing to Dolly and she held onto the girl even tighter. She fought back a few tears as she laughed along. The mood seemed jovial, but with what could be the last time seeing one another, or even their last sunrise, period, they were truly afraid inside.

With the sunrise came waking up, and the two of them had, at some point, went from spooning, to facing one another in the night, but still holding each other loosely. Eri was the first to wake up, and see Dolly laying there, quietly sleeping, moving slightly, implying soon she might wake. She stared at her former tormentor and noted how soft, and peaceful she looked in her slumber. Had this never happened, had Dolly just been a normal student, maybe they could have been best friends after all, and maybe more in the long run. She watched the fluttering movement of Dolly’s eyes as she woke up, she offered Eri a grin and moved in for a hug. If not for having a little over an hour before carrying out this mission, the two likely would have remained in bed. They, however, got up and found that at some point, Kelly must have placed the uniforms and accessories on the nearby clothing drawer.

“I’m glad she doesn’t know anything, that would be bad for her if they come here if we get caught.” Dolly says, recognizing how close Eri is to her droids as she smiles at the neatly folded clothes. “Yeah, we have to get her to not even know anything at all about all this, she has to think I’m going to skip school and that’s all.” Eri says. Dolly nods, and adjusts her skirt. “I think I can replicate you, but if I fail a bit, I’ll just try to pretend like I’m sick.” Eri said, a tone of sadness to her synthetically-modified voice. Dolly looked at her friend and put a hand on her shoulder. “If you want to back out now, it’s not too late, you really could just stay home today, if you want.” The normally shy girl shook her head, and looked down at her body. “I wished I could be you instead of me before, honestly, for at least part of today I get to pretend that it’s the case!” Dolly laughed with Eri for a moment, before heading for the front door.

Taking off the collar for a moment, Eri starts to speak to her droids, “I’m going to be skipping classes today, but Dolly is going, I just wanna try out these clothes and go around! Don’t tell anyone, please Kelly?” With a nod, Kelly affirmed her young master’s wishes. “Of course young madam, I will carry that story to the scrapyard if I must.” Eri knew it was supposed to be a joke, and she nervously laughed a moment, with Dolly looking away. “Just take care, and Sid? Watch the house for me, please?” She says, while leaning down to pet her faithful K9. Dolly follows suit, petting the dog and thanking the protocol droid for her hospitality.  
  
Everything seemed to flow by quickly now, but also slowly as the walk from the door of Eri’s home to Dolly’s airspeeder felt like an entire day, though it was likely less than 10 minutes of walking. The walk was quiet, up until getting to the speeder itself. “I know that cameras are around, but they likely won’t check them unless they suspect me of helping you, and, why would I help my bully?” Eri says, Dolly nearly cringes at that statement inside, but is relieved by the implication. “Hey, yeah! You have no reason to help me, just remember to act natural in class, I should be done by like, the early evening. I found a place to hide while scanning through the data servers.” Eri looked out at the city, something she normally didn’t do much of in the morning. “You know, my parents are so wealthy, but they try to shelter me by leaving me here. If I had the chance to travel, and take some kind of holonet schooling, maybe I wouldn’t e so afraid of everything.”

Dolly looked over at her riding partner, “I’ve been many places, it sounds like you do need to travel when you get the chance, you’d be surprised what you’d see. Some of it...isn’t so fun, but you gotta know what to expect when you are out there. For someone from some peaceful backwater agroworld, this place is a dangerous cesspool. But to you it’s an ivory prison tower, or something like that. I would be lying if I wasn’t saying you should just outright defect. Because honestly, it’s a whole different world, in a manner of speaking that is.” Eri didn’t expect something like that from Dolly. Then again, she was a spy who, may not even actually be a teenager, gathering data probably millions of light years away from wherever she came from. “Where are you from, Dolly? What’s your story?” Eri asks, but with the school in sight, she couldn’t elaborate now.

“We’re about to set down on the parking lot, but if we succeed at this with no alarms ringing, no midday lockdown, I’ll tell you all about it.” Dolly set the speeder on autopilot and gave Eri a short peck on the lips. “I’ll hide in the backseat, get in the driver’s seat and when it’s time, get out and head in with my bag. Just act like me, even walk more like I do, and you should be fine!” Dolly crawled over the top of the driver’s seat into the back, as Eri slid into the driver’s seat. “Dolly, if this doesn’t work out so good, I still want to know, even if we’re bound for ImpSpace.” Dolly giggled at the curious girl’s statement. “Don’t worry zombie, you’ll know of my legend soon enough!” Eri grinned at the other girl’s words now, but remained worried about her; a stark contrast to any other point in the school year.

Setting down, Eri calmed herself a moment, before quietly stepping out. It was hard to avoid walking normal, like it was a depressing day, but she made her best effort to put a kind of bounce and sway to her step. She had to admit, she moved a lot faster when walking with purpose. Passing a student as she goes through the door, the jock stops a moment, “Lookin’ fine today too girl!” Eri blushes for a moment, yet feels an odd good feeling inside, she pauses physically and it doesn’t go unnoticed. “Um, you okay there?” She breathes in a moment then puts on the best impression she can, “Yeah, I’m feelin’ even more fine than I look today!” The jock laughs and says, “You go girl!” As she walks off. She thinks to herself how much she wished this could have been her average interaction with that jock who, normally called her a creep.

Making her way into class, taking note of how it seemed Dolly just kept all her needed things in her bag, she slowed at her desk, only to pass it and sit in Dolly’s as the plan called for. Noriah, one of the girls Dolly seemed to commonly talk to looked at her for a moment. “You never answered my messages last night girl! Busy getting some or what?” Emulating how Dolly would be, she looked at Noriah, “With one of these shrimpheads? Get real!” Noriah laughed and agreed with her. Things started to quiet down as the teacher came in for roll. When Dolly’s name was called, she responded. “Here!” She said, as cheery as she could muster, to match Dolly’s average way of saying it. How many times she made fun of it by now, she could do it herself.  
  
Eri’s name was called, and tempted as she was to respond, being a creature of habit, she instead looked down at the desk. “Well young Eri isn’t here, anyone know why?” The teacher didn’t pay much mind to the students and just assumed they all knew each other well. Nobody said anything until she did, “Maybe that lizard got loose!” The students appeared to laugh at the most obvious genital joke as though it were comedic gold. The teacher gave off a monotone faux-laugh and urged the class to quiet down as the doors sealed like normal. Time seemed to go so slow now, unlike earlier on the ride here. There was a moment that the power seemed to surge a bit, but the teacher pointed out that there was a category 3 rainstorm about 30 blocks west, where the power for the region came from.

Classwork was light, and the storm that was mentioned prior was starting to come into view out the window, blotting out the sunlight. As it became midday, lunch time had arrived, and the doors opened as the lunch bell rang. The students headed for the lunch hall, the rain started to tap against the skylight, and Eri made a mental note that the speeder outside was a convertible and likely covered up before the rain hit. She felt a buzzing in the pocket of her skirt. It was from the datapad mini Dolly gave her earlier in the morning. Putting in the password given, she sees the message pop up on screen. “Going smoothly, eat up E, I’ll be finished by last bell.” Eri smiled and placed the pad back in her pocket. After getting her food, a light salad with some form of grilled avian sliced up and mixed in. Like she did normally, Eri went to sit alone, but before she could, Noriah, and a few others, notably popular students, came over to join her. The power surged a moment and they looked up for a moment before proceeding.

Whatever confidence she had before quickly slipped to the side as she nervously began to eat her salad as they sat around her. “You okay Dolly?” Noriah asks, and Eri remembers she’s got to play the role well, or else fail. “Of course, just wanted a window seat to see the rain.” The others looked at her, “I hate the rain, nothing but pisswater from the bottomfeeder levels.” Everyone but Eri laughed at this, even Noriah. Eri would have been angrier, but instead she just took initiative. “You seem to know a lot about pisswater, Dirk, been hanging out down there a lot?” Dirk’s friend responded with, “Ooohh, yo dude, you been seeing that gutter chick?” Dirk looks at his friend angry, “Man shut up, Vrii ain’t a gutter chick, she’s just taking care of her uncle!” Noriah chimes in, “It’s fine, it’s fine, but you know who really looks like a gutter chick?”

The others listen in for a moment, “That creep Eri, straight up looks like a frumpy girl right? But looks like one of them pervs that wears women’s clothes we’re warned about.” Eri could feel a welling of water behind her eyes come up, but she suppressed it. Dirk said, “Not too frumpy! Come on, Eri kinda looks like Dolly here, but you know, not anywhere near as cool, boobs make everything better...” His friend agreed and Noriah almost did it seems, but stopped short. Eri decided to ignore Dirk for a moment, as she felt it wasn’t worth drawing attention to his observation. “Noriah, are you worried about chicks with dicks that much? Sounds more like admiration!” Noriah looks offended, but the two males laugh, “Nori? You looking for some muff with extra stuff?” They laugh harder, and Eri joins in, Noriah can’t help but laugh a little herself after looking offended. “All seriousness though, that kid Eri will probably be, legit, one of our bosses one day, little jerk.” Dirk says, sighing, making the others nod together. Other than them being generally quite mean, this gave Eri at least a little bit of reasoning behind their rudeness. The thought of lording over them for being horrible did sound appealing though. Eri was about to say something else when her pocket buzzed again.

The other three got busy talking, and Eri checked the message, it read, “POWER SURGE TRIGGERED A RESET. GET TO THE SPEEDER BEFORE LOCKDOWN” This brought a moment of panic to Eri, as she stood up almost unnaturally fast. “Bathroom!” She said quickly, pulling her bag up to her shoulder and throwing her datapad in the pocket. She started to power walk for the door, leaving Dolly’s friends at the table watching her and then laughing a bit. As she made it to the door, a student looked at her. “Dolly? Didn’t I just see you on the other end of the hall? How’d you get here so fast?” She couldn’t think of a single thing so she just pointed at the lunch counter, and when the student looked, she ran off, out the door. She began her run towards the middle hall to try and reach the straight shot for the main doors. Her heart was racing, as well as her thoughts.

She saw Dolly cross from a conjoining hall into the main hall just before she reached there. “How long till the alarms go off?!” Eri asks, frantically. “Minutes, seconds, no idea, we just have to get out of here, now!” The two of them made their way to the front in a scant few seconds, but the alarms sounded, and lockdown was put into effect. Suddenly, all around them doors started slamming and latching, the power system went dark, and the door before them almost shut. “I jammed some liquid metal in there before I came in just in case.” She says, while she throws open the door. The two run out, and look around a moment before making for the speeder. The rain hits them all over, and the wind whips hard, they duck behind a well-manicured bush as a security droid rolls towards the entrance of the school. They start running again as the rain picks up and they are obscured by it. Soaking wet, and panting, Eri remotely opens the doors to the speeder and gets in the passenger side.

They get in and sit a moment, trying to make sure they weren’t followed or seen, Dolly breathes a sigh of relief as Eri pants a bit more, turning on the engine, cool air from the vents starts hitting the two of them. “I can drop you off somewhere, then head for the ship, it won’t-” Eri stops Dolly midsentence. “No, no it won’t help, another student saw you at one end of the hall, and me in the lunch hall when I went to leave, he is definitely going to mention there being two of you, and it probably won’t take long to notice how much we look alike, even the friends of yours thought so.” Dolly puts her head down on the steering column, wet hair smearing the console. “Shit, shit I am sorry, I’m so sorry about all of this.” Dolly says, trying to hold back crying on the last couple of words. Eri sighs and puts a hand on her back. “No, it’s okay, it’s not your fault, I volunteered for this, and I knew this could happen.” Dolly looked back at Eri. “But did you know how dangerous this is, did you know that if they do suspect you, there won’t be much time to try and explain anything to anyone? I set you, someone with high grades, good prospects in life, for becoming a fugitive.”

Eri studied Dolly’s words a moment, before responding. “My… my only friends here are droids, my parents come home on weekends, sometimes they call ahead saying they won’t be back until they are back. Nobody at this school likes me. Your friends don’t, the teachers don’t care, and the only thing I have to look forward to with you gone, is a few more years of being a lonely punching bag, before my parents set me up in some soulless position.” Eri cries a bit, but looks over her shoulder to make sure nothing is coming there way. “You’re the only adventure I’ve ever known.” Dolly couldn’t help but tear up a bit, and smile. Then it hit her that they should leave before VOSECO security arrived. “Let’s go on one then!” She says as she lifts the speeder a bit then peels out, flying just over the edge of the parking lot, and flying almost straight down towards a middle level, computer-assistance guiding her away from running into other flying vehicles.

“Okay here’s how this is gonna go, I’m gonna land at the mini-port, we’ve got about 3 minutes of walking to do before we get to that old freighter, and when we get there, it’s already prepped and ready to go. I made sure of that two days ago.” Eri had never traveled in a speeder this fast, at this degree, so she gripped the door panel a bit, before Dolly’s words comforted her into relaxing. A few minutes into the quiet flight, Eri said, “What’s it like for us there?” Dolly looks over a moment in confusion, but then it clicks. “It’s like waking up in the morning and knowing you belong. That even if some people don’t like you, they have to respect that you’re protected like they are, and that’s before all the affirmation you get from a few of the more outspoken supporters.” Eri sighed a moment, considering how maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing after all, if she could actually be happier.

They landed, and with one pat on the dashboard, the two of them set out. “It served me well, but it’ll be taken care of, speeder’s set to fly off to the part of Coruscant our people can make use of it.” Dolly said, easing her pacing a bit. After about a half-minute of walking, they hear a particularly fast speeder flying in, and turn back to look. Suddenly a speeder van’s doors open up and a few men in security outfits with blasters pile out. “Shit! Vsec!” Dolly says, turning the other way and running for cover. Eri follows behind her, and the speeder they were just in takes off automatically, as planned, making it impossible to bring it over for cover or an escape. “We weren’t followed before, how the hell did this happen?!” Dolly asks aloud. “Do you have a blaster?!” Eri asks, and Dolly responds by pulling open the side of her bag to reveal a couple of small, lightweight blasters. “You know how to shoot?” Dolly asks, to which she gets, “I know how to fire it at them!” Eri hears a beeping on her chest and then looks down, “It was the holotag!” She throws it to the ground and blasts it apart.

The two girls get behind cover as others in the crowd near them scatter. Five guards fire at them at once, with them firing back tactically. Dolly manages to hit one in the shoulder, and his uniform catches fire there. Another guard runs to help his comrade, and Dolly says, “Now, run!” With the other guards now firing more erratically, as Dolly hit their marksman, the two of them were able to run the rest of the way to their ship. Dolly yells an activation code at it, and it starts getting ready after putting a ramp down. The guards start to catch up and a few blaster bolts hit the ship around them. “Look out!” Dolly yells as the guards close in, she moves in front of Eri just in time to be hit by three bolts, one on the left arm, two on the body, one chest, one stomach area.

“No!” Eri shouted, grabbing Dolly And pulling her towards the inside, bolts missing. She falls over and the girl is limp in her arms, she pulls up her blaster and fires several shots, she thinks she heard one of them seems to fall over. The other two take cover and she pulls her friend aboard. She is surprised to see Dolly moving around. “Eri, I’m okay, I’m okay.” She says as she sluggishly stands. The sight before Eri was unexpected, Dolly’s charred uniform gave way to some skin that was blackened by the blast at the stomach, but it had went through the skin at the chest. Revealing a metallic rib. Confusion swept over the girl, as she saw Dolly’s arm also had metallic bone showing through charred skin, with very little in the way of a pinkish blood coming out. Looking down at her own arms, the pinkish fluid had coated her sleeves only lightly.

“I’ll explain, but we have to get out of here.” Dolly started to move down the hall, flinching a bit as she moved her arms to get to the doorway. Eri stood up slowly and followed her as the sound of blasters firing at the craft faded. Dolly quickly got everything ready and started the engines after turning on defensive systems. Eri quietly sat at the navigator’s console. “What can I do to help?” She asked, and Dolly responded, “relax, this thing’s navigation system is slaved to a few astromechs clustered below us, this baby could literally fly itself, and that’s what it’s going to do.” Eri stayed quiet as liftoff was initiated. She’d never been on a ship like this before, and she looked out the front viewpane only to see the monolithic structures of Coruscant seemingly get smaller and smaller. Dolly finally leaned back in her chair and relaxed, and wiped the fluid that had gathered at her lower lip.

“You weren’t wrong… Eri.” Dolly says before covering her eyes with her right hand. “Your only friends on Coruscant are droids, and that’s what I am.” Eri was taken aback, her friend who she’d come to know in such a short time, wasn’t really human all along. “I’m from Mustafar, it’s in your history books. Where the Confederates were almost totally wiped out. It’s in Imperial hands even still, and I was made in a lab there, I’m not the only one of my kind.” Dolly started to cry, “I’m so, so sorry Eri, I’m sorry that I did this to you.” The ship’s hyperdrive kicked in, and within a few moments, it was headed for Imperial space. Eri stood up after watching this, for the first time. “Dolly, don’t worry, I didn’t expect this, but, I was so worried a few moments ago you’d be gone forever, now I know you aren’t going to die on me.” Eri put a hand on Dolly’s right shoulder. “Droids are the coolest, don’t be ashamed!”

Eri smiled at her, and to her credit, the injured girl smiled back briefly, but couldn’t help but feel like Eri was just doing this to be nice, because Eri was nicer than any other human she’d personally met. “You’re way too nice to someone who turned your world upside down. I’m sorry I can’t be your dream girl like I felt I was last night. I.. am gonna go get this sealed up...” She stood up quickly and walked off best she could. “Dol-” Eri went to say something, but Dolly said, “It’s okay, stay there, I’ll bring you back something to eat, I need you in to tell me if anything changes on the screens.” Eri quietly complied, as Dolly rounded the corner and began to fully cry now as she made her way to the medbay. Eri leaned back in her seat, making sure to keep her eyes on the monitors, noticing little change. It had been such a long day, slow, fast, slow, fast, all of it ending in such a disaster. But she couldn’t help but feel like Dolly was being way too hard on herself.

Her feelings didn’t change, that same strong feeling that built up, however brief it was, maybe it was all of the things that were happening now, but she couldn’t help but feel that no matter what, she didn’t want to leave Dolly. She thought back to the times before now, how much of a tormentor she was, and yet, she felt such a deep attraction to her, she always wanted to see her smile and be kind, and that dream had happened. She was her dream girl, and it hurt to hear her sound so pained. But, she was a droid, after all of this, after all the touching, the fun, the fear, she was a droid. But clearly, she was more than just nuts and bolts, and clockwork. She was dimly aware she still looked, and sounded just like her injured friend at the moment. Looking down at her body, she felt better about who she was, knowing that her body was so alike that of someone meant to look so perfect.

Dolly applied the synthskin, it wasn’t pretty, and it’d take a while to blend in, but it would do. She took off her shirt, then the rest of her clothes. She would have walked into the room with Eri naked had she not taken such damage to her body. “I was going to tell her...if only I could have in a different way. I didn’t want her to see me like this, I wanted her to know me as more than a bully, than a mean droid with no soul, no heart, even if I feel them both inside me...” Dolly stopped herself from crying more. “No, no I have to go on, I have get that data home! The Emperor is counting on me, Eri is now too.” She slipped on a tight-fitting suit, an engineering suit designed for a female, She goes to take off her extensions, but keep them on, feeling prettier in spite of it all, with them on.

Soon she steps into the cockpit, now with a quick-made bowl of macaroni and cheese for Eri. “I don’t know if you’ve ever had this before, but it’s good, if you want it.” Dolly says, though Eri takes the time to admire her figure in the suit she has on. “It smells good, I’ll take it!” Eri says, taking it from Dolly’s hand and scooping some into her mouth. “Wow… How have I never had this?” She says, voice light, trying to improve the general mood. “Because your fam was mad rich and you didn’t even know it was a thing?” Dolly said, seemingly getting back into her bubbly self for a moment. But things took a serious turn, “But Eri, I can carry you back, when this is over. I can take you back to Coruscant, even if the higher ups think it’s too dangerous I can.” Eri stopped eating a moment, looked down, then looked back up at her friend. “I am probably already a suspect, and, I volunteered, I knew what I was getting into. I don’t think I should go back, not yet. And, you don’t have to worry, I don’t blame you Dolly. We’re friends now, and I could never hold a fluke against you when I was in on it!”

Dolly smiled and felt a bit better, she felt a sharp pain on her stomach, her simnerves firing. “Gah...” Eri leaned over and put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?!” Eri asks, concerned. Dolly puts a hand up and waits for the pain to pass, wincing until it does. “The synthskin is attaching to my simnerve system, and it’s making it fire. I didn’t think to put anesthetic on the wounds.” Eri looked confused, “Can you turn off the pain?” Dolly lets out a little laugh. “I can, but I can’t without being unable to feel my way around. I’m not built like a Gonk, I’ve got a whole nervous system, I can get sick, I need to eat or fat deposits will be drained. I’ve got a body a lot like you, I just don’t feel as extreme pain when hurt, and, it’d be very hard to break me without serious pressure.” Eri felt insensitive to it, she looked at Dolly embarrassed. “Sorry...”

Dolly looked back, “No, no! It’s not your fault, I’m not exactly the kind of droid you can find at a shop.” She looked at her friend, then over to the monitors, to check for a moment for any changes. None noted, she looks back at Eri. “A few years, I was pulled out of the biovat after mechanical tests, and I spent my first year learning about Imperial and Republic society. The next half year was all combat training, no amount of programs loaded can prepare the body for it. I was assigned this mission later because I was considered high-intelligence. The synthesis process isn’t perfect, and there are a few of us who never matured a personality aside from what was programmed. Those ended up sent to the propaganda ministry, and the engineering corps. Droid model citizens, and engineers that can think like a person, and a droid at once, it’s something that can’t be passed up.” Dolly paused, taking a scoop of Eri’s macaroni and cheese and grinning after taking that bite. “Hey!” Eri said while smiling at the soft droid girl.

“A few of the others like me were assigned too, out there, everywhere. Probably a couple on Coruscant, but I wouldn’t know, they try to separate us a bit so that way we don’t have working knowledge of each other’s missions in case something happens. As you can imagine, even with encryption, our brains are worth more for the information inside than anything else.” Eri understood this but placed a hand on her friend’s head. “You’re more valuable than any information you hold, to me.” This gesture made Dolly’s pulse increase. “H-heh, you’re being way too nice to me, I’m gonna have to pay you back soon as I can.” Eri smiled, “Soon as the mission is complete, let’s relax a while? You seem like you’ve been at this months. If you have somewhere you live, I’ll take care of you… I just want you to get better Dolly.” Her friend looked blankly, maintaining a smile while looking away. “I’ll be okay Eri, I’m not like you, I can hurt, but I can’t be too hurt. I am just so glad you were behind me.” Eri felt a tinge of guilt for not even taking one hit as her friend made what could have been the ultimate sacrifice.

“Dolly, you saved me, those hits probably would have fried me. I can never really repay you for it, but I want to try.” The nervous girl was filled with determination to make up for being a missed target. It made Dolly smile, but she looked worried. “Droids were made to do the things someone real can’t do without danger. Don’t feel indebted to me for doing the right thing.” Eri looked at her and was confused, “You didn’t have to, you’re on a mission, I was your volunteer assistant. That data is worth more than a thousand of me, you risked everything to help me...that’s why it’s so important.” Dolly felt warmth all over, but also strain. “Eri, we can’t leave the cockpit, but these seats recline, wanna take a nap? I’m beat...” Eri yawned after hearing the word nap, being as they went to bed later than they should have, and just fought for their lives an hour or so ago, it seemed appropriate to actually take a break from the waking world. “I think you’re right, I’m pretty beat too...” Eri said, finding the reclining lever for the seat and leaning back. “I guess that settles it then!” Dolly pulled her lever and fell back fast, she paid for it with a wince-inducing pain she felt in the chest and stomach. She kept quiet, but she could feel it roughly. She made a mental note not to strain like that again for a while.

With little in the way of banter, the two of them quickly drifted off to sleep. The old craft’s secret was that it had a hyperdrive rated among the best, made to carve through space like a lightsaber through sheet metal. Unbeknownst to the New Republic, there existed a hidden hyperlane from Coruscant to Bastion, created during the Clone Wars; before the planet had even been officially renamed. It was maintained by a series of purpose-built droid ships, equipped with gravity well generators to keep it clear of debris. What would have taken a week of travel would now take about 9 hours on the Victorylane. Far up the lane, the droid ships toiled endlessly, as the duo slept in peaceful bliss. Dolly could dream, and she’d scarcely been asleep for more than two hours before she began to dream of her second life as a student. Eri, however, took longer to start to dream, and it was much less direct. Her dream revolved around fighting vampires with a strange cross-shaped lightsaber.

The two of them actually managed to sleep until ten minutes before reaching their destination, only to be woken up by a friendly chime from the navigation computer that they were close. Yawning, and sitting up, slowly, Dolly was ready to begin the procedures, but first, she had to urinate. “Eri, hey, E!” The other sleeping girl woke up fast and looked around. “Y-yeah what is it?!” The nervous girl says, drawing a light giggle from her friend. “Watch the cockpit for me, I gotta hit the ladies room. Oh, and, we’re like ten minutes from reaching our destination, so if you gotta go, do it when I get back!” Dolly stood slowly and then made a light sprint to the bathroom. Eri was about to chuckle, until she realized she too needed to go. Silently, she hoped her friend would come back soon. Dolly sat at the toilet like a proper lady and did her motions, as she finally felt able to release, she did so, letting out basically a day’s worth of fluids at once. She sighed in relief, and began to think of how good it would feel to maybe just have a vacation for a while, like others of her kind did after successful missions.

Eri fidgeted in her seat as she kept counting the seconds, two whole minutes passed, and her friend had yet to come back. “D-dolly please...” She said, then hearing a giggle. “I knew you had to go!” She had been standing, watching a minute or so to see her friend fidget. “I-I gotta go!” Eri stands and runs to the bathroom, making sure to not run into her injured friend as she does so. Dolly laughs as she goes in the wrong doorway, trying to find the restroom. She finds it and goes in, sitting down just in time to let out a stream of hot urine, she moaned lightly as it felt good to finally be released. She pushed her knees together, letting out the last few spurts of fluid that had built up all day. She felt weak-kneed, partially from laying there so long, and partially from how good it was to feel that relief. Finally, she stood up and flushed, washing her hands and going back out.

“Glad you’re back E! We’re about to come out of hyperspace, ready?” Eri sits down beside her in the navigator’s chair. “Ready!” The two feel a light jolt as the ship transitions swiftly out of hyperspace. Dolly hears her friend gasp at what she’s seeing. “I’ve never seen a world like this before...” Dolly looked over to see Eri’s face so full of wonder. “Wait till you see Dubrillion, it’s not as fortified, but maaaaan is it pretty!” Dolly says, smiling and thinking of her time posted there in training. “I can’t wait to see it all… I’m glad I came with you.” Eri says, warming Dolly up yet again, and drawing a light blush to her face. “I am too, Eri, I am too.” The ship begins to drift down towards the planet and the first layer of the upper atmosphere is penetrated at a smooth speed. “We’re landing at Port Tarkin, newer one, right next to a sea, it’s pretty. A few hours relaxing there and we’ll be ready to be debriefed. Somewhat literally, they’ll probably check you for implant chips, so just remember to stay still when the machine passes over you, or they gotta do it again.”

Eri makes a mental note of this as they move closer to a tiny span of grey surrounded by green and blue. “Dolly, I wanted to say that, I know it’s early to even say anything but I-” Eri was interruped, as the pair passed through some light clouds, by a very rough, loud explosion that threw her to the floor. The cockpit door shuts before any pressure can be lost. “Gah, what the fuck?!” Dolly shouts, as a second explosion rips through the back of the ship. “Eri, are you okay?!” Dolly screams out as the ship tumbles and groans. Pulling back for a moment, she manages to ease the tumble enough for Eri to pull into her seat. The two of them strap in just in time for the ship to start tilting at a sharp degree once again. “I’m alive, what happened?!” Eri yells, pushing her feet against the cockpit piloting console to keep from feeling like she’s falling forward. “No idea! This bitch won’t stay steady!” As the ship started to roll up and down, Dolly pulled a lever on the front of the console, suddenly everything got slower, the ship, with two massive flaming holes in the back, flew by at high speeds, a piece of it falls off and flies directly at the cockpit. “Fuck!” Dolly screams as it slams into the cockpit-pod directly.

Everything became a blur for Eri, the wind was intense, forcing her eyes shut. Dolly’s scream was drowned out by the loudness of a screeching thruster outside, the craft began to slow, the wind died out, a gurgling noise could be heard, then she felt an impact. Her chair came loose and she flew face-first into the water. She opened her eyes to see herself water all around. The sting of salt water hit her eyes, but not painful enough to make her shut them. She shakily grabbed for her belt buckle. Inside, she cursed herself for being unable to swim, she tried kicking and pulling herself, but she could barely move. The pain from the impact was intense, and her lungs were under so much pressure. She struggled so hard, but looking up at the light, she couldn’t reach it. Her life began to flash before her eyes, as the light began to fade. She kept up the fight, until she couldn’t see.

Dolly was jolted awake, literally, as she felt a massive shock to her midsection. Looking down, she could see a relatively thin, circular piece of metal jammed inside of her midsection, pink fluid lightly coming out around the sides. The pain was heavy, but she activated the opiates for the nerves. She looked for Eri, panic setting in, until she saw Eri’s legs ahead of her out the window, her chair floating just under her. Dolly couldn’t pull herself from her chair, she felt a tinge of pain, she looked down and began to pull herself froward, pulling her body forward quickly, her HUD popped up in-vision, revealing more and more damage to her internals as she pulled herself forward. The pain did set back in as she got to the jagged end and saw more of her blood come out. She pulled herself off finally, and felt both pain, and relief. She swam forward fast as she could, limbs locking up lightly. She reaches her friend, who just stopped struggling. Alarmed, she pulls her down to the chair. She puts the belt back on her friend, and then puts her arm into the belt, reaching under the seat, she presses a button, a dull beep sounds and she holds on tight to her friend.

The bottom and back of the chair fly off, heavy rubberized plastic inflates fast, and the chair begins to move up at a medium rate, getting faster within the last ten feet. Dolly coughs, and water pours out of her , blood leaves her body at an exponential rate, she attempts to use her controls to clot it up, but she can’t. She stops to focus on Eri, who isn’t moving. She opens her mouth to say her name and more water comes out. She hears a creaking and behind her is a part of the hull of the ship, fires out at the back, somehow resurfaced, minus the cockpit under them. She keeps her arm in the belt loop and pushes herself hard, joints locking, nearly fading mentally, she releases adrenaline, almost unconsciously as she pulls the inflated seat, now on it’s back and floating. She finally go to the hull, fearing the worst for her friend. She unlatched her and pulled her aboard the floating hull before she even pulls herself on. Her joints continued to lock, her skin was even more pale now than before, even with some clotting to try and hold in blood for her organic parts. Her nerves were shot and frantic, sometimes firing, sometimes not, but she ignored it all, even the immense pain, to try to restrain herself from breaking Eri’s ribs as she pushes down, desperately trying to force the water out of her lungs.

Hot tears roll down her face. “Eri!” She screams, joints lock in her left arm completely, and she continues with her right, pushing herself to help Eri. After another half minute of chest compressions, finally, Eri spits out a large volume of water, then again more. Dolly smiled looking down at Eri, who began to open her eyes. Dolly worried that her friend would have brain damage from it, but Eri just leaned up. “D-” Eri spat out more water, coughing hard; and looking over at Dolly. “I’m okay! You saved me from dying again!” Eri was crying happy tears, they’d made it, they’d survived to here. “Eri I’m so glad y-” She suddenly licked ill and fell over onto her back. “Dolly!” Eri crawled over, fast, now noticing the gaping hole, and exposed innards of her dream girl. “Oh no...no, no no!” Eri shook Dolly a bit, making the girl come to her senses a bit. “Eri, you made it, we made it.” She says shakily, her smile breaking only briefly as her body jitters, and joints lock, a glitch in motor functions.

“Dolly, please don’t go! You are my dream girl, every day, no matter what happened, I always thought of how much I just wished I could be like you. I think...it was me wanting you, and wanting you to like me too.” The two of them were crying together, Eri shook as she tried to talk. “You were never as horrible as anyone before you, it was always playful, and I understand it now. You’re more than just some bully, it doesn’t matter you’re a droid, I need you, I...I-” Dolly giggles a bit and looks up knowingly at her friend, shakily moving a jittery, half-locked hand to Eri’s face. She opens her mouth to speak, first stalling then softly, “Wh-ats in your head i-in your head zombie zom-m-m” Dolly’s eyes darken in the center, her smile fades. Eri had pressed Dolly’s hand against her face, she felt it go limp now. Eri cries heavily, saying Dolly’s name and apologizing for not being able to save her too. She shouts in despair as a seafaring vessel of some kind, and a couple of airspeeders show up. The speeders hover over the ship’s hull. The vessel pulls up alongside it. Within moments, a swarm of officers, troopers, and engineers surround them both.

The cautious troops begin to raise their blasters, but a voice rings out. “No, the girl is harmless.” Eri looks to her right, Dolly’s hand still in her own. A man in a silver uniform steps out from the back, from a different speeder that had just arrived. “Sir, what are your orders?” The man looked at the teary-eyed girl, and noticed just how similar to the felled droid was. “Get medical care for the girl, and the D-series, do everything possible to revive her. She’s important, don’t make any sacrifices simply to get data. Get a recovery crew to the cockpit module, I suspect either in this wreck, or in that cockpit, a couple of holocrons might give us the data.” Eri, voice cracking from having cried so much. “T-the schoolbag, it’s hooked to the back of the cockpit. It should have it.” She looks back at Dolly. The man comes over, and places a hand on the teenager’s shoulder. “Dolly is one hell of a soldier, she’ll pull through, even if she looks finished now. I swear it!” Eri looks at him, and if only for a moment, she gets a glint in her eyes of belief.

“Come on, let the engineers do their job, we need to talk about some things, if you’re okay with it.” She looks at Dolly, and stares a bit. “I promise, they’ll be delicate with her.” He says, and puts a hand out for her. “I… I’ll go with you.” She says, turning to face Dolly again, and kissing the back of her hand, before gently setting it on her chest. She grabs the man’s hand and he helps her up. She holds onto it, to walk with him to the speeder. She watches from the window as they carefully load her onto a stretcher, and begin running wires and tubes to her. She sees it and believes, they will try their best to save the only person she’s ever truly loved.


End file.
